21.5 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. yellowish-brown wrappers, new stitching. [Korea]: n.d.

Yuhap is a common primer for children dating from the early Chosen period. The book teaches Chinese characters by giving their Sino-Korean pronunciation along with a vernacular Korean translation. Both the pronunciation and the translation are given in han’gul, the Korean alphabet promulgated in 1443. The characters are arranged by category, as indicated by the title. The end of a list of characters belonging to a certain category is indicated by a short sentence in classical Chinese.

Yuhap was widely used in Chosen Korea alongside the Thousand Character Essay... More

Woodcut printer’s device on title, numerous woodcut illus. in the text, & a woodcut vignette on verso of final leaf. Title printed in red & black. 4 p.l., 296 pp. Folio, cont. vellum over boards (first four leaves with some light browning & staining). Palermo: C. Hesperi, 1685.

First edition of Maurolico’s important edition of Archimedes’ works, based upon an earlier partial edition by Borelli (Messina: 1670-72), which was almost completely lost.

Maurolico’s edition was largely prepared in 1534 and 1547-50 and remained in manuscript for many years after his death. Maurolico’s “method of redaction is suggested in the preface... More

Two folding engraved facsimiles (one in red & black). xxviii, 583 pp.; 2 p.l., 473 pp. Two vols. Large 8vo, cont. red straight-grained half morocco & glazed red paper boards bound in Vienna for Archduke Karl (“Carl Ludwig”), flat spines gold-tooled & lettered in compartments, the Archduke’s initials “CL” in top compartment. Paris: De Bure, 1815.

[bound with]:(—).

Catalogue des Livres rares et précieux…provenant de la Vente de feu M. le Comte de Mac-Carthy-Reagh à vendre aux prix marqués à chaque Article. [iii]-vi, 57, [1] pp. 8vo. Paris: De Bure frères, 1817.

[bound with]:

(—). Liste des Prix des Livres… 1... More

12 p.l., 374, [24] pp., one leaf of errata. 4to, cont. English dark blue morocco (unimportant scuffing to extremities), covers panelled in gilt & blind, spine finely gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine, a.e.g. Amsterdam: J. Claus & others, 1676.

First edition, rare, and a splendid copy bound in contemporary English dark blue morocco, most probably for presentation, of the classic exposition of the Quaker philosophy. The Society of Friends, as Quakers are more formally known, has historically had an outsized influence through the mere force of passive resistance. Their form of Christianity is “widely divergent from the prevalent... More

[25] leaves, written on rectos only. Small 4to (207 x 160 mm.), patterned softcover (extremities a little sunned), manuscript title on upper cover, exposed sewing. Amsterdam: 1973.

A most exciting discovery: the manuscript, in the hand of Ulises Carrión (1941-89), for an early bookwork. Amor, la palabra was one of no fewer than six books that he published in 1973, it is also among his rarest. As in the final printed version, this manuscript is dedicated to Carrión’s partner, Aart van Barneveld (1951-90), who co-founded Other Books and So, Stempelplaats, and Timed Based Arts: “para aart, / que estudia filología.”... More

Engraved frontis. port. of Cervantes by Virtue, several engraved head-pieces, & 67 engraved plates. xxiii, [8], [xxv]-xxxii, vi, [2], 90, [14] (first leaf a blank), 355 pp.; xii, 388 pp. Two vols. Large 4to, cont. speckled calf (joints very expertly repaired), spines gilt, brown & green morocco lettering pieces on spines. London: J. & R. Tonson & R. Dodsley, 1742.

First edition of this esteemed translation and a wonderful association copy; this set belonged to Edward Gibbon and bears his bookplate in each volume. Gibbon was known for the wide range of his reading and he refers to this work... More

Trans. by Xuanzang in 650 CE. 70 pages, six columns per page, 30 columns per sheet, 17 characters per column. 14 sheets (average sheet length: 570 mm.), five pages per sheet. Accordion format (305 x 7980 mm., print surface from top border to bottom border: 245–250 mm.). Single woodcut borders at top & bottom of text. Orig. sutra binding of semi-stiff paper wrappers. Woodblocks carved by Ge Fang & Ma Qing (& others) in Sixi (present day Huzhou), printed between 1110s/40s–1276.

This fascicle, in its original sutra binding, was printed in the 12th or 13th century in northern Zhejiang, China... More

Scroll (300 x 4150 mm.), with pale green silk borders & endpapers, wooden core roller. [Japan]: n.d. but probably early Edo.

This is a fine example of an erotic scroll, anonymously painted as usual but with great skill. The scroll contains ten scenes of men (sometimes samurai) and women engaged in various sexual activities. Two of the scenes are threesomes, one of which shows a young samurai copulating with two older women. The hairstyles of both the women and men are typical of the pleasure courts of the early Edo period.

Erotic paintings in Japan have a long tradition, established... More

4 p.l., 162 leaves. Small 4to, cont. blindstamped panelled pigskin, remains of two deerskin ties. Zurich: C. Froschauer, 1542.

First edition of a very rare book on the market; this is a lovely fresh copy in contemporary blind-stamped pigskin. This, Gesner’s second botanical work, is “an alphabetically arranged catalog of plant names in four languages, the first of its kind, and an indication of the growing interest in botany beyond purely philological investigations into the writings of the classics. The Greek names are based on the works of Dioscorides. This early work is already characteristic of Gessner’s life-long endeavour to... More

Added title-page with a large engraved vignette & woodcut diagrams in the text. Both titles printed in red & black. 11 p.l. (including the added title-page), 535 pp., 8 leaves. 4to, fine antique mottled calf (some faint dampstains), sides panelled in gilt, spine richly gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Bologna: Heirs of V. Benati, 1665.

First edition, the copy of William Molyneux (1656-98), astronomer, founder of the Dublin Philosophical Society, and author of the first treatise on optics in English (for more on Molyneux, see D.S.B., IX, pp. 464-66). This is Grimaldi’s only book; in it he describes... More

Circular silver photographic print, 92 mm. in diameter, mounted on paper incorporating a printed title and descriptive letterpress dated August 1890 with the signatures of two of Herschel’s sons, mounted on card. Some small areas of abrasions to the paper surface. In the original frame, by Ryman & Co. of Oxford, made from the rungs of the ladder to the telescope. With a fragment of an original (?) printed descriptive notice on the back.

This is the earliest photograph of a scientific instrument and the first photograph deliberately taken to record an object prior to its disappearance (the earliest “record”... More

60 double-page (two have flaps) & several single-page illus., using brush & washes of many colors. 30; 31.5; 31 folding leaves. Three vols. Large 8vo (308 x 210 mm.), orig. decorated semi-stiff boards, manuscript titles on upper covers, new stitching. [Japan]: Author’s Prefaces dated 1699 & 1709; Postfaces by Nobutomo Ban dated 1813 & 1841.

A most interesting and attractively illustrated manuscript. In the late 17th century, the brother of Kotaku Hosoi, Chimei (d. ca. 1697), a samurai in service to the Koriyama fiefdom, visited the Nara area and was saddened by the disrepair of the many mausoleums, tombs, and... More